Hereditary and Midsommar’s Ari Aster wasn’t worried about crossing any lines

His movie has been branded as “disturbingly disgusting” but this director wasn’t remotely worried about “crossing any lines”.

Two years ago, you would’ve had no idea who he is, and now he’s responsible for some of the most frightening images seared into your mind.

Last year, Ari Aster terrified audiences with Hereditary, the horror film with Toni Collette that broke through at Sundance, and now he’s back with Midsommar, which some moviegoers branded as “disturbingly disgusting” while other have said it “scarred them for life”.

Surely that’s the kind of reaction every horror movie hopes to elicit.

Midsommar, starring Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor, follows a group of American college mates who tag along to a friend’s home in Sweden for a midsummer festival. Their friend happens to belong to a pagan commune (but really, a cult) whose festivals kick it up a notch every 90 years.

This year is that 90-year mark, which means the customs are particularly confronting.

Midsommar features some horrifying images

But nothing was too much for Aster, who researched the rituals of pagan cults in Scandinavia.

“Nothing was too gruesome or grotesque (to include in the movie),” he told news.com.au. “There were certain things I needed to choose between that we ultimately didn’t do that I was interested in possibly doing. But I wasn’t worried about crossing any lines.”

That should give you an idea of what Aster is willing to put his audience through. Aster did reveal that there was one character death that was originally a little bit different.

“The way we film that person, we ended up doing a ‘blood eagle’, which is a traditional method of Viking torture, but we almost went the route of a double death where that character was hanged and impaled simultaneously.”

Aster (in the centre) with his Midsommar cast Picture: Amy Sussman/Getty

When Aster’s Hereditary premiered at Sundance last year, it heralded the arrival of a fresh horror voice who could scare the bejesus out you by making you feel deep dread for an hour, masterfully building up the tension, before throwing everything at you in the second half.

The critical and commercial ($US79 million box office from a $US10 million budget) success of Hereditary meant Aster, 33, was always going to be able to get his next movie out. But he was already working on Midsommar before Hereditary’s wide release.

“It was fortunate in some ways given that I wasn’t able to get into my own head and overthink what the next film would be,” he said. “We were thrown into prep while we were finishing Hereditary.

“So we were scouting for fields in Hungary (where the movie was filmed) while I was finishing Hereditary. I was working on the shot list for Midsommar at night while I was in sound, colour and VFX during the day for Hereditary.

“For a little while, the movies were stacked on top of each other so it was very intense. This is the first opportunity I’ve had in about two and a half years to actually sit down and breathe.”

Aster with Toni Collette during the promotional tour for Hereditary Picture: Tim P. Whitby/Getty

Aster was originally approached to make a Hostel-type movie.

But he wasn’t interested in aping someone else’s idea, so the concept morphed into Midsommar, which he also wrote the screenplay for. Midsommar, with all of its folk horror elements and ghastly imagery, is actually a break up movie.

In many ways, that tracks — a bad break up can feel like a horror movie, this is just Aster’s manifestation of it, one that’s ultimately cathartic.

“This is about a break up, but it’s also about a dysfunctional co-dependent relationship that is falling apart,” he said.

Even though Aster has established himself as part of the wave of auteur horror filmmakers, he wants to move onto other genres.

What’s next? Romance? Comedy? And will audiences be willing to go along with him for a non-horror journey?

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll see. I hope so,” he said. “I hope to explore other genres and keep playing in other sandboxes.”

Midsommar is in cinemas now

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